looks like the real thing
by TenTenD
Summary: AU! Lyanna Stark knows there's something strange going on in her small town. She can feel it in her bones. She is determined to find irrefutable evidence. Newcomer Rhaegar helps. The five times Lyanna is sure she knows the culprit (the evidence does not lie, after all...) and the one time her whole world is turned upside down. A satire.
1. Chapter 1

"I tell you, I know what I saw!" Lyanna yells at Ned, arms crossing protectively in front of her. "There is something out there, and if you are not going to do anything about it, then I'll go to someone who will listen to me."

"And who would that be?" Brandon jumps in, a sly smile on his face. "I bet that if you are sweet to Baratheon he will go there with me." Her glare makes him laugh. "I'm just saying you could have your cake and eat it too. Who knows, this might finally be the thing that puts him off."

"You're an idiot," Lyanna retorts. But she is not surprised they don't believe her. That animal in the woods can not have been savaged by a bear. But she would rather die than ask anything of Robert Baratheon. He is like the plague. On second thought, Lyanna would prefer contacting the plague to spending more time in Robert's presence than strictly necessary. Of course it helps that he has started thinking her a strange creature – which Lyanna confesses she does not dissuade him from. She leaves her brothers to their game and shoots off into the woods again. There has to be something she's missed. Something she had overlooked.

The poor deer is still where she left it. The neck is torn, but other than that there is no other wound. Not even blood. That is indeed very strange. It rather puts Lyanna in the mind of modern vampires and rubbish literature. She even half expects to be blinded by a walking solidification of cheap sparkling crystals. She swallows her laughter long enough to notice something moving somewhere ahead. "Hey!" she calls out, getting up to her feet. "Is anyone out there?" There is definitely a shadow moving. "You can come out now. Unless, of course, you've been swimming in the lake and are indecent. Then don't come out. Stay there until I leave."

"Are you always this bossy?" comes a drawl from somewhere above her.

Lyanna looks up, but unfortunately the sun is glaring down at her. It is quite impossible for her to make out anything but a long dark shape. "Only when I'm wondering if I should have brought my rifle with me." The man, whoever he is, climbs down until she can finally see him. He doesn't look like some high school girl's fantasy. Not a vampire, then. "What are you doing in my woods?"

"Your woods?" There is laughter in his voice but he is kind enough not to let it show in his face. "Is it? I am sorry for trespassing." He bows, almost but not quite mockingly.

"I am in a benevolent mood. I suppose I can forgive you this once." She gives him an impish grin, somewhat like the one she used to give to her father when she was caught with her hand in the cookie jar. "So, stranger, what brings you here?"

He smiles then, a stretch of lips, quite melancholy. It takes Lyanna by surprise that such a small gesture can rip a whole inside of her. Not a gaping wound by any means, just a small puncture, but it is enough. It is enough for her to hold her breath when he speaks. "The quiet."

"Are you here often?" she questions, her interest part selfish, and part not.

He purses his lips. "Sometimes." Then he gazes at the carcass of the desecrated animal. "We should bury it."

She looks at it too. "It's evidence," she says, quite stiffly. "We can't just bury it."

"Evidence?" Now he's curious. "For what?" He lowers himself to the ground, resting his back against the tree. Violet eyes roam over her face. Unlike all the other men she seems to know, this one waits for her to speak.

"Whoever killed it, drained the blood. They took nothing but the blood." His eyebrow arches, but he makes no protests yet. "Hunters would have taken the hide, other animals would have eaten it." It sounds logical. Lyanna is proud of herself just now. "Do you know what that means?"

"I can't imagine," he replies, his voice soft and low. "Why don't you tell me?"

She leans in, looming over him. A smile crosses her features, and she licks her dried lips. "Vampire." That one clearly articulated word reverberates between the two of them. She expects him to laugh. He doesn't oblige her. "Are you one?"

"You think they are real?" He stands up, taking a couple of steps towards her. Lyanna holds her ground. "If I was a vampire, what do you think I would be doing?"

"Probably getting rid of witnesses," Lyanna suggests nonchalantly. "But you can't be a vampire?"

"I can't?" It should infuriate her, the way he keeps transforming her own statements into questions. "Why?"

"Because I know who the vampire is." That seems to startle him enough so that he pulls back. She goes on, whispering, "I saw him carrying body parts out once. They were not human though. He doesn't come out in the daylight, ever. I wonder if he sparkles in the sunlight."

"With the combustion his being in the sun produces, the answer would be yes." He extends his hand. "I'm Rhaegar."

"Lyanna," she offers her own hand as she speaks. "Help me catch him."

"Why would I do that?" Rhaegar watches her lips intently, as if their shape is a mathematical problem that needs solving. She must be amusing him. "What do I get out of it?"

"My gratitude," she says with a serious face. "And the knowledge that you are a good person." That has to be enough. For any other person it would be enough.

"Alright." And with that he turns to leave. "Don't worry, I'll find you," he promises just before Lyanna can tell him her address.

"Just make sure that you come after nightfall." Her words are met with a careless wave of his hand. Lyanna smiles. Finally, she'll prove them all wrong.


	2. Chapter 2

Rhaegar jumps over the small fence and into the backyard. The moon is hidden behind a shroud of dark clouds but the streetlamps offer enough light. He looks around with mild interest. There are some flowers planted in a corner, and objects strewn all across the expanse of the backyard. The disorder is less chaotic and a touch appealing. It shows that human nature is somewhat fixed by now. Sitting on one of the small benches, he leans slightly back, waiting for Lyanna to come out.

Her punctuality is commendable. The young woman comes out not through the door – she will later explain to him that the hinges have not been oiled in some time and it creak awfully – but sneaks through the open window, coming down the fire escape. If at first he was inclined to amuse himself at the expense of an eccentric person, Rhaegar has to admit she at least came prepared. A pair of binoculars hangs around her neck and she carries a small camera in a bag. This does not necessarily mean that he should forgo his hope for amusement. And she proves to him that indeed he mustn't.

"Ready for the scouting mission, partner?" There is a child-like quality to her glee that makes Rhaegar smile in spite of himself. Lyanna hardly waits for an answer before taking his hand. The moment her fingers curl around his considerably longer ones, she freezes. "You're so cold," she complains, hand moving up his arm. Rhaegar simply takes her hand in the crook of his elbow.

"Sorry," he says in a calm voice. "Is this any better?"

"Much better," Lyanna replies, leaning slightly into him. She goes on to tell him about her plan. It is quite clear that she has thought much on this. And she seems a sensible woman. Why she wants to hunt a supposed vampire, Rhaegar cannot fathom.

"What will you do when you have the proof you're looking for?" he asks cautiously.

Lyanna gives him an odd look, but she genuinely thinks before offering an answer. "I suppose I'll find some way to drive him away from here. There's nothing as good for one's health as passing the problem to someone else."

He chuckles. "You are undoubtedly right." They pass near a large window and the street becomes narrower. Rhaegar allows Lyanna to walk before him. She takes him to a fire escape and they climb it together. Despite her unimpressive height she is quite deft at climbing.

At his look of wonder, Lyanna levels a smile his way. "I used to come here with my brothers when I was little." She points to a house. "That is where Ramsay lives. His neighbours have reported an unpleasant smell coming from the backyard and one of the older residents, the owner of two cats, has been missing one of her pets for quite a few days." She gives him whatever information she possesses with a nonchalance that would worry Rhaegar were she talking to anyone but him. She is a strange girl; very pretty but very strange.

A car pulls in front of Ramsay's residence. Lyanna takes out her binoculars and presses the camera into Rhaegar's hand making a short motion with her head in the general direction of the car. Rhaegar complies wordlessly. Even without the help of enhancement devices it is clear to him what goes on down below. Lyanna peers through her device, concentrated on the matter at hand. Rhaegar takes a few pictures, but his ears listen to the conversation that has ensued between the stranger that rang Ramsay's doorbell and the presumable vampire in the vicinity. The man enters the house, and Ramsay pulls the door after him after giving a long look up and down the street. Perhaps he can feel that he is being watched.

"Did you get that?" Lyanna asks impatiently, her binocular on the ground now. She pulls the camera from Rhaegar's hands and looks through the pictures. "You know, they say that vampires don't have a reflection, because they don't have a soul, and for that reason they don't appear in photographs either." She points to a corner. "Maybe they look like this." Ramsay is covered in shadows giving the impression of being surrounded by a dark aura. All one can see is the shape of a creature that looks vaguely human.

"Actually, vampires do have souls," Rhaegar corrects her. "But I've also heard they don't have reflections."

"Why do you think that is?" she questions, fiddling with the string of her binoculars. "I should see how Ramsay reacts to garlic. If he's a vampire, he won't like it one bit." Rhaegar doesn't point out that there are humans who also don't like garlic. "A pie perhaps, or some sort of food. Well, I can't simply come to his door with a bundle of garlic around my neck."

"Point taken," he relents. Since he won't be stopping her, he might as well tag along. At least until this Ramsay problem is solved.

"I'm hungry," Lyanna says quite suddenly. "All this excitement," she offers by way of explanation. Rhaegar offers to take her home. "Only if you come in. I've dragged you around with me all night, the last I can do is give you a hot meal." When he expresses concern at the presence of her brothers, Lyanna gives a short laugh. "They wouldn't wake up even if an earthquake shook the house. As long as we're silent, they won't ever know."

Finally agreeing, Rhaegar follows the young woman back home. "Perhaps you should introduce me to your brothers. It would make things easier."

"You don't know my brothers," Lyanna answers with a small rueful smile. "They'll just assume you are interested in me and then proceed to dismember you. I'm just trying to protect you here."

How charming. "I'll take my chances." How utterly laughable at the same time. Rhaegar ruffles her hair, not without affection, and takes the soft punch to his arm with stoic indulgence.


End file.
